Would the Last One to Leave Alaska Please Turn Out the Lights?
OP-ED by Representative Mike Chenault

This week's news that ConocoPhillips and Marathon will be shuttingdown LNG exports from Cook Inlet is a staggering blow for thePeninsula and for Alaska -- and raises crucial questions for ourfuture.

I can only imagine what this is doing for the workers and theirfamilies. I've gone to school with, know and represent some of thefamilies affected by today's decision. Those were high-paying,family-supporting wages. Gone. It's adding insult to injury for mydistrict, having lost the Agrium fertilizer plant three years ago.It's a terrible day for the Peninsula and Alaska.

I fear the consequences this decision will have over the next days,weeks and months, on our Kenai communities, the Railbelt energy grid,Southcentral gas supply and Inlet exploration and development. It's asad day for the Inlet and our outlook. The problem now comes in thewinter when cold, dark days hit Southcentral and we won't have gasthat the plant supplied as a back-stop.